Rotor for snow removing machines



Aug. 11, 1964 H7 KANE 3,143,815

ROTOR FOR snow REMOVING MACHINES Filed Jan. 11, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 k I v /6 3 H INVENTOR Harvey KANE BY W /2 m m W PATENT AGENT Aug. 11, 1964 H. KANE 3,143,815

ROTOR FOR SNOW REMOVING MACHINES Filed Jan. 11, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTUR Harvey KANE Hg. 6 Q-M PATENT APE/VT United States Patent 3,143,815 RGTGR FUR SNGW REMOVING MACHINES Harvey Kane, 625 St. Philippe St., Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Jan. 11, 1963, Ser. No. 250,890 4 Claims. (Cl. 37-43) The present invention relates to snow removing machines, and more particularly to a rotor for such snow removing machines.

The general object of the present invention resides in the provision of a rotor of the character described combining impeller means for ejecting the snow with screw means for engaging and disintegrating the snow and feeding the same to the impeller portion of the rotor.

Another object of the present invention resides in the provision of a rotor of the character described of simple and inexpensive and yet very strong construction which is made of a minimum of parts and which is very efficient for snow removal.

Another object in accordance with the present invention resides in the provision of a modified rotor of improved efficiency with enables the snow to be thrown at a distance of about 10% greater than the distance of the snow thrown by the rotor in accordance with the first embodiment while requiring about 2230% less driving power.

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional elevation of the snow remover casing, and a front elevation of a first embodiment of the rotor disposed in the casing;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the same rotor;

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal section of the same casing and rotor;

FIGURE 4 is a front elevation of the second embodiment;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of the rotor of FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a back perspective view of the same rotor.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings in which like reference characters indicate like elements throughout, the rotor in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, which is generally indicated at 1, is housed in a casing 2 of a snow remover, said casing 2 being of conventional construction and comprising a cylindrical rear portion 3 provided with a tangential snow ejecting duct 4. The rear portion 3 is closed by a back wall 5 and is in full communication at the front thereof with a mouth portion 6 which may have a generally rectangular shape providing flared side, top and bottom walls adapted to engage and receive the snow. The casing is mounted at the front or at the rear of a motor vehicle provided with power means for rotating the rotor.

The rotor itself has a shaft 7 which is suitably journaled Within the casing 2 so as to extend longitudinally of the snow removal machine and which is connected at its rear end to the power means for rotating the shaft. A radially extending bar 8 is secured at 9 to the front end of shaft 7. Radial bar 8 has intermediate its ends rearwardly inclined bent portions 10 which are braced to the shaft 7 rearwardly of its front end 9 by braces 11. The radial bar 8 serves as a support for a pair of diametrically opposed snow feeding blades 12 which are concentric with and circumscribe shaft 7, and form a snow engaging screw for feeding the snow rearwardly directly into radially mounted impeller plates 13 extending in a plane passing through the shaft 7.

More specifically, each feeding blade 12 is in the shape of an arc of a circle disposed in a plane inclined to shaft 7 and having an outwardly and forwardly curved leading ice edge 14 and an integral radially inwardly directed triangularly shaped supporting leg 15 which is welded or otherwise secured near its inner end to the foremost and innermost portion of the radial bar 8. Each triangular leg 15 is bent intermediate its ends to form an inclined portion 16 whereby the outer end of the leg 15 is offset forwardly with respect to the radial bar 3 and the front end 9 of shaft 7, and the leading edge 14 of the feeding blade 12 is disposed in a plane well forward of the front end 9 of shaft 7.

On the other hand, the trailing end 17 of each feeding blade 12 is directly secured by rivets 1% or the like to the rearwardly offset outer end of the radial bar 8 whereby said trailing end 17 is disposed in a plane which is back of the front end 9 of shaft 7.

The impeller plates 13 are preferably an integral part of the blades 12 being bent at right angles to the trailing end portions 17 of the latter, so as to be disposed in a plane containing shaft 7 at the back of the blades 12. The radially inner edge 19 of each impeller plate 13 is bent at an angle to be inclined forwardly with respect to the direction of rotation of the rotor.

The inner end of each triangular leg 15 projects on the opposite side of the radial bar 8, as shown at 20, and legs 15 are preferably secured to the radial bar 8 at spaced points on each side of the shaft 7.

The feeding blades 12 project forwardly of the casing well within the mouth portion 6 thereof, while the impeller plates 13 are completely housed within the rear cylindrical portion 3 of casing 2, with their radially outer edges close to the inner cylindrical surface of portion 3. Preferably there are two diametrically opposed blades 12 each extending through slightly less than half a circle and the pair of impeller plates 13 lie in a common radial plane. The rotor in accordance with the first embodiment operates as follows:

During its rotation in the direction of arrow 21 shown in FIGURE 2, the forwardly curved leading edges 14 engage the snow and disintegrate the same if the snow is in compact or solid state and causes the snow to slide along the rear surface of the arcuate blades 12 whereby the snow is displaced rearwardly within the casing 2 until it abuts against the right angularly disposed impeller plates 13 arranged at the trailing ends of the blades 12. The snow is thus rotated within the rear part 3 of the casing 2 and is ejected through the duct 4 by centrifugal force.

The inner forwardly inclined marginal portions 19 of the impeller plates 13 help to prevent the snow from falling into the center of the rotor, when the impeller plates 13 move in the upper zone of the casing.

In practice, the snow is fed rearwardly within the lower zone of the casing by the feeding blades 12 and is immediately engaged by the downwardly moving impeller plates 13 which move the snow through approximately half a circle to eject it through the upwardly directed duct 4. However, the rotor is adaptable to be used in conjunction with a casing which can be rotated about its horizontal axis so as to incline the duct to any desired degree to eject the snow and hrow the same at any de sired vertical angle.

The inner ends 20 of the triangular legs 15 also engage the snow when the snow remover attacks a higher snow bank and serve to disintegrate the snow which enters the center of the rotor. If desired, the impeller plates 13 may be made separate from the feeding blades 12. However, the construction illustrated and described hereinabove is simpler and less expensive to manufacture.

The snow remover rotor in accordance with the invention is very efficient for the removal of all types of snow including wet snow.

The rotor 22 of FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 is adapted, as in the first embodiment, to be disposed within a casing such as casing 2 with its shaft 23 suitably journaled within the casing and extending longitudinally of the snow removal machine and connected at its rear end to:suitable power means for rotating the shaft 23. A radially extending bar 24 is secured at its center 25 to the front end of shaft 23. Bar 24 serves as a support for the trailing ends 26 of a pair of diametrically opposed snow feeding blades 27, said trailing ends 26 being secured to the outer ends of bar 24. The blades 27 are concentric with and circumscribe shaft 23, their inner edge being spaced from shaft 23.

Blades 27 form a snow engaging screw for feeding the a a snow rearwardly of the casing and directly into generally radial impeller plates 28.

Each blade 27 is in the shape of a portion of a flat ring, inclined to shaft 23 and subtending an angle'of about 160 and at any rate less than 180, such that its leading edge 29 makes an angle with radial bar 24. The leading edges 29 of both blades 27 are substantially parallel to each other.

Each blade 27 is integral with a radially inwardly directed triangularly shaped supporting leg 30 which is welded or otherwise secured to the radial bar 24 adjacent the central portion thereof. Each triangular leg 30 is bent to form an inclined inner portion 31 protruding from the radial bar and directed forwardly of the rotor at an angle to shaft 23.

The leading edge of each leg 30 forms a continuation v of the leading edge 29 of the blade 27 and the combined edges form snow disintegrating means.

The radially outermost portions of bar 24 are recessed 'rearwardly of the front end of shaft 23 whereby the trailing ends 26 of the blades 27, which are secured to said outermost portions of bar 24, are in a plane lying rear- Wardly of the front end of shaft 23.

The foregoing construction is very similar to the construction of the rotor in accordance with the first embodi- Outermost portion 33 is at right angles to and is se-- cured to the outermost portion of radial bar 24 and is co-extensive with the trailing end 26 of snow feeding blade 27.

Each snow feeding blade 27 is provided at the back thereof with an elongated curved snow guiding flange 35. Said guiding flange 35 has a longitudinal edge secured to the back face of said feeding blade and extends at an angle to said feeding blade such that the'transverse extent of said guiding flange is parallel'to the axis of shaft 23. The leading end 36 of guiding flange 35 is secured to the back of the blade 27 adjacent the outer edge and leading edge 29 thereof; from leading end 36, flange 35 gradually approaches the shaft 23 in accordance with the curved portion 37 and then is extended by astraight portion 38 which protrudes inwardly from the radially innermost edge of the circular snow feeding blade 27 at the trailing edge 39 of flange 35; said trailing leading edge 39 is supported in position by means of bracing bars 40 and 41, the other ends of which are secured to the radially outermost edge portion of impeller plate 28 and to an intermediate portion of said impeller plate respectively.

Snow guiding flange 35 has an increasing width from its leading end 36 towards its trailing end 39 at which point its width is approximately equal to the Width of the impeller plate 23. The bars 40 and 41 are secure to the 'wardly with respect to the rotor until it falls on the 'innermost portion 32 of the impeller plate 28: also some snow is engaged by the rear surface of the portion of the blade 27 disposed radially outwardly from the flange 35 and this snow is guided rearwardly by the blade-'27 until it engages or is taken up by the outermost portion 33 of the impeller plate 28, thus the snow is divided into two streams by the guiding flanges 35 to fall on two separate portions of the impeller plate 28 and the latter ejects the snow from the casing under centrifugal force.

The arrangement of the guiding flanges 35 and of the 3 impeller plates extending up to central shaft 23, has been found to increase the distance 'of the snow throw and also to require a smaller power for driving the rotor.

While preferred embodiments in accordance with the invention have been illustrated and described, it is understood that various modifications may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A rotor for snow removers comprising a shaft, arcuate snow engaging and feeding blades concentric with and circumscribing said shaft, each feeding blade having a leading end and a trailing end, an impeller plate mounted at substantially right angles to the trailing end of each of said feeding blades and contiguous to the same, said impeller plate disposed in a substantially radial plane passing through said shaft, a radially inwardly directed leg depending at an angle from said leading end of said feeding blade and forming an inward extension of said feeding blade providing a substantial snow engaging surface coplanar with said feeding blade, means for supporting said blades, legs and impeller plates on said shaft, an elongated curved snow guiding flange for each feeding blade, having a longitudinal edge secured to the back face of said feeding blade, said guiding flange extending at an angle to said feeding blade with its transverse extent substantially parallel to the axis of said shaft, said guiding flange having a leading edge disposed opposite the radially outermost portion of the leading edge of said feeding blade, said guiding flange gradually approaching said shaft in the direction of its trailing portion and having its trailing end terminating short of said shaft-and of the associated'impeller plate.

2. A rotor as claimed in claim 1 with said guiding flange having a Width tapering from its trailing and towards its leading edge.

V 3 A rotor as claimed in claim 2 whereinsaid impeller plate extends from said shaft to the radially outermost edge of the associated feeding blade at the trailing end of the latter.

4. A rotor as'claimed in claim 3 wherein said impeller plate has a longitudinal section having the general form of an 8 providing a convex front face at the radially innermost portion thereof, and a concave front face at the radially outermost portion thereof, with respect with the direction of rotation of said rotor.

Zinn Jan. 15, 1929 Wandscheer Oct. 22, 1940 

1. A ROTOR FOR SNOW REMOVERS COMPRISING A SHAFT, ARCUATE SNOW ENGAGING AND FEEDING BLADES CONCENTRIC WITH AND CIRCUMSCRIBING SAID SHAFT, EACH FEEDING BLADE HAVING A LEADING END AND A TRAILING END, AN IMPELLER PLATE MOUNTED AT SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT ANGLES TO THE TRAILING END OF EACH OF SAID FEEDING BLADES AND CONTIGUOUS TO THE SAME, SAID IMPELLER PLATE DISPOSED IN A SUBSTANTIALLY RADIAL PLANE PASSING THROUGH SAID SHAFT, A RADIALLY INWARDLY DIRECTED LEG DEPENDING AT AN ANGLE FROM SAID LEADING END OF SAID FEEDING BLADE AND FORMING AN INWARD EXTENSION OF SAID FEEDING BLADE PROVIDING A SUBSTANTIAL SNOW ENGAGING SURFACE COPLANAR WITH SAID FEEDING BLADE, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID BLADES, LEGS AND IMPELLER PLATES ON SAID SHAFT, AN ELONGATED CURVED SNOW GUIDING FLANGE FOR EACH FEEDING BLADE, HAVING A LONGITUDINAL EDGE SECURED TO THE BACK FACE OF SAID FEEDING BLADE, SAID GUIDING FLANGE EXTENDING AT AN ANGLE TO SAID FEEDING BLADE WITH ITS TRANSVERSE EXTENT SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF SAID SHAFT, SAID GUIDING FLANGE HAVING A LEADING EDGE DISPOSED OPPOSITE THE RADIALLY OUTERMOST PORTION OF THE LEADING EDGE OF SAID FEEDING BLADE, SAID GUIDING FLANGE GRADUALLY APPROACHING SAID SHAFT IN THE DIRECTION OF ITS TRAILING PORTION AND HAVING ITS TRAILING END TERMINATING SHORT OF SAID SHAFT AND OF THE ASSOCIATED IMPELLER PLATE. 